Martytb

About the smokes.....My wife, the doctor, who is antismoking to the max, put together gift packages to accompany the wedding invitations. Each package contained all sorts of candy and a pack of cigarettes. Like you said, their gonna smoke anyway, and american cigarettes would be an excellent gift. Besides, you were preparing to provide all the smoking related gifts,so you might as well give him the end product. You might not think it's the best gift to give but the recipient certainly will.

Stairs!!! That reminds me. Be prepared to walk up a lot of stairs. It seems that almost everybody we visited lived on the 4th floor or higher and there were no elevators. I spent 2 weeks living with the bride in ChongQing, and the only time I saw an elevator was in a hotel we went to for dinner. And another thing................be prepared to say HELLO to a lot of people. Everybody knows that much English, or so it seems. I understand the government recently outlawed spitting in the major cities, but I don't believe there is any active enforcement.

Hello all, I just signed on as a member. I felt qualified as I just returned from China on Nov. 8. I am now happily married to a Chinese doctor and found the water discussion very interesting. WeiPing boiled all the water and the milk that I drank. She also made a big deal about touching anything. My big etiquite booboo was shaking hands. As soon as the wife introduced me to somebody I reached out to shake hands. Wrong! Quite a few people hesitated, and I didn't understand why untill I asked WeiPing's brother. He speaks English better than she does. I'm surprised nobody has warned you about the spitting. It took me totally by surprise. One more thing, don't sit in the front seat of the taxi. You'll understand why the first time you get in a car and enter the traffic flow.